Computer-based applications in which the user interface includes communications to the user in a natural language (e.g., English) format have traditionally been non-adaptive—that is, the perceived “personality” of the computer-based application as represented by its communications to the user does not automatically adapt itself to the user over time, based on the user's interactions with the computer-based application. The inability of a computer-based personality to adapt over time also forecloses the possibility of the computer-based personality exhibiting the capability of communicating to a user a sense of introspection and self-awareness with regard to changes in its personality over time, and also limits the effectiveness in conveying a sense of awareness to a user of changes in the behaviors of a user over time. Such static personality approaches of the prior art therefore significantly limit how engaging a computer-based application's user interface can be. Thus there is a need for computer-based personalities that can adapt to one or more users over time and thereby provide users with the experience of receiving more intelligent and even human-like communications from the system.